Well, we are getting into the swing of things.  The first couple of days this week we met with our Mission President and his wife, Pres. & Sister Robinson, and learned what our roles here will be.  There was never much doubt about what Sister Taylor would be doing, but Elder Taylor’s responsibilities were a bit unknown.  At the moment he has been assigned as the Service Specialist, coordinating all the service projects, hours, and reporting of same for the mission.  He’ll be working some with the various JustServe committees around the state.   One exciting thing that he and the young Elders are working on is helping with the Iditarod, which starts next week.  

        He’s also been asked to take over the travel in the mission.  All the in-mission flights, ferry rides, etc., for the President and senior missionaries, zone conferences and transfers.  What a logistical nightmare since this mission is roughly the size of the western half of the United States and most of it has no roads.  In addition, he’s the guy that the other senior missionaries call on to help them transfer cars around, inspect the apartments, etc., etc., etc.  Oh, yeah.  He’s also supposed to be Sister Taylor’s assistant, helping her with paperwork, computer stuff, sitting in on visits with the missionaries, etc.

        Sister Taylor has been thrown right into the fray.  Already this week she has dealt with a concussion, a car accident, lots of colds and flu and some interesting Preparation-day injuries.  She spends lots of time on the telephone, advising missionaries and talking to doctors and parents.

        Next week we will experience our first transfer day.  In addition to the various missionaries being moved about the state, we will be involved in orienting seven new missionaries.  We still feel like we should be getting the orientation, not giving it.  On Wednesday we will be introducing ourselves and making a short presentation on our respective responsibilities to all the zone leaders at a leadership meeting.   It will be interesting to see what we tell them, won’t it?